Students target president's office for protest at The Evergreen State College

New Seven Oaks' counseling program to help military students

Olympia schools earn state awards

Stacy Brown, the recently resigned chief of Police Services at The Evergreen State College, discusses the need for college police to have rifles in the event of an active shooter. She also talks about difference in philosophy between the college a Courtesy TVW

Stacy Brown, the recently resigned chief of Police Services at The Evergreen State College, discusses the need for college police to have rifles in the event of an active shooter. She also talks about difference in philosophy between the college a Courtesy TVW

Evergreen’s chief of police services resigns

Stacy Brown, the chief of Police Services at The Evergreen State College, has resigned after less than a year in the post.

“We are very grateful to Chief Brown for the leadership and professionalism she provided to the college,” Evergreen president George Bridges said in part of a statement provided to The Olympian on Tuesday. “...We wish her all the best.”

On Aug. 7, Brown will begin a new job as a Tumwater Police officer, according to Ann Cook, a spokeswoman for the city of Tumwater.

“She’s an experienced police officer; she’s local, we like that,” Cook told The Olympian on Wednesday. “We think she’s going to be a great addition to the force.”

Never miss a local story.

Sign up today for unlimited digital access to our website, apps, the digital newspaper and more.

Racial tensions brewed at the college during the last school year, and the unrest that broke out late in spring semester at the Olympia-based liberal arts college made national headlines. During a May 24 protest, some students held signs that were calling for Brown’s firing. Others held signs with messages such as “Black lives matter: End the injustice.”

Also during the protest, flyers were distributed in Red Square featuring a cartoon of Brown dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit.

Another employee who was protesters targeted, professor Bret Weinstein, recently filed a $3.85 million tort claim with the college, stating that college administrators “perpetuated a racially hostile and retaliatory work environment.” A tort claim is a prerequisite for filing a lawsuit against a state agency.

In a statement provided to The Olympian Wednesday, Weinstein described Brown as a “model police chief.”

“We could not have asked for better,” he wrote. “She was unfailingly professional, despite being hounded by protesters who clearly wished to lure Evergreen police into public confrontation.

“The baiting and stigmatizing of Brown began at her swearing in, and continued throughout her tenure as chief,” he continued. “The fact that the college administration encouraged the frequently illegal actions of the protestors, and tied the hands of the police, made Brown’s job all but impossible.”

Weinstein said he’s still employed at the college. He is scheduled to teach “Adaptation: Evolutionary Patterns in Biological Space-Time” during fall quarter, according to the college’s online course catalog.

During a June 20 work session for the state Senate Law and Justice Committee, Brown said Evergreen is the only public university in the state that doesn’t outfit campus officers with rifles to use during an active-shooter situation. She said that decision was based on philosophical reasons and made by college administrators.